Westboro unfriends Friends of Senior Center

Friday

Jul 26, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Donna Boynton, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WESTBORO — The town has severed its relationships with the Friends of the Westborough Senior Center Inc., after the nonprofit group refused to provide a complete accounting of its fundraising activities and expenditures.

While no illegal or criminal activity is suspected, town officials said the town Council on Aging and the community could no longer be associated with a nonprofit organization that wasn't following proper protocol.

"This action was taken due to concerns related to the Friends refusing to provide a complete accounting of their fundraising activities and expenditures on behalf of the Westboro Senior Center to the town and Council on Aging," said Town Manager James Malloy in a statement.

Meanwhile, an attorney representing the Friends said that while indeed the proper paperwork may be lacking, the dispute is a "power grab" by the Council on Aging Director Alma DeManche and that the town has purposely defamed the reputation of and bullied a volunteer group of elderly ladies to control donated money.

"The Friends were kind of blindsided by this," said Irene Bagdoian, an attorney representing the Friends pro bono. "They believe that this is purely a power grab by the executive director."

The Council on Aging voted July 15 to immediately end the relationship with the Friends, which was formed in 1986.

According to the Friends of the Westborough Senior Center website, the group's goal is "to render a program or service to motivate fundraising projects for items not provided by the Town of Westboro or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This will ensure greater community interest and perpetrate the dignity and well-being of senior citizens of Westboro by our efforts, enterprises and endeavor." Ms. Bagdoian said the group's charter does not prohibit it from supporting organizations or projects outside of the Senior Center.

The group is self-governed and in the past has funded things such as the installation of a handicap accessible door, and assisting a senior citizen who needed to get Lifeline.

Ms. Bagdoian said the dispute stems from an incident in January, when Ms. DeManche presented the Friends with a list of things for the Friends to fund, which included uniform shirts for senior van drivers, ink and toner for the Council on Aging's copy machine, cold and hot packs for Meals on Wheels and several other items the Friends felt did not directly benefit the senior citizens of town.

"The Friends rejected the list, and rather than discuss it, the Friends were accused of impropriety," Ms. Bagdoian said. "There are many worthy things needed for seniors in Westboro, but ink and toner are not necessarily those kinds of things."

The Friends was formed around the time the senior center was being built, to help furnish the building and supply other things that were beyond the cost of the building itself. The town was concerned that there was no accounting of how much money has been raised and spent in the Senior Center's name, as well as an overall lack of communication, all of which led the town to end the 27-year relationship with the group.

Selectman George Barrette, who is also the Board of Selectmen's liaison to the Council on Aging, said the town has worked to try to settle this matter for several months

"It was the Council on Aging's desire, as well as the town's, to resolve this issue internally before taking this step," Mr. Barrette said.

"The Senior Center and Council on Aging are town departments and town employees using taxpayer dollars," Mr. Barrette. "We made the decision to sever the relationship because we weren't confident in or comfortable with their reporting. We — as a community, town and legal entity — had to end that relationship."

Mr. Barrette said the group has not filed the proper paperwork with the state attorney general's office in a while, and "There were a number of proper things that were not done in connection with filing and following the proper guidelines of what a nonprofit should be doing."

While an annual report was filed in 2012 with the secretary of state's office, Ms. Bagdoian said the Friends have not filed an annual financial statement with the attorney general's office. The Friends raise most of their money through $5 membership dues and a Fall Fair, which takes in less than $5,000. The Friends bring in less than $10,000 a year.

The Friends are now working with a local accountant to make sure all necessary paperwork is filed, Ms. Bagdoian said.

"There has been a lot of innuendo and accusations based on nothing but innuendo and accusation. This is about nothing but a power grab. The executive director wanted to immobilize them and cut off their ability to fundraise, and start a new nonprofit she can have control over."

Mr. Barrette said the town has set up a committee to start a new organization to fill the void. The committee consists of Ms. DeManche, Town Accountant Leah Talbot, Town Treasurer Joanne Savignac, Town Counsel Gregory Franks, as well as a representative from the Executive Office of Elder Affairs.

The new committee does not yet have a name; the committee will determine how to collect and administer the funds.

"Right now, people need to pay for things that are coming due," Mr. Barrette said. "We need to figure out a way, mechanically, to do that."

"We have no idea how much money they (the Friends) have in the bank," Mr. Barrette said. "It is completely up to them to decide what to do with it. We do not expect anything from them."

The Friends group will change its name to the Friends of Westboro Seniors.

The town is accepting gifts or donations for the senior center, which can be made directly to the Westboro Council on Aging, 4 Rogers Road, Westboro, MA 01581.

Contact Donna Boynton at dboynton@telegram.com or follow her on Twitter @DonnaBoyntonTG